Seriously, whenever I stay somewhere without a bidet I feel like a caveman. It's just such a quality of life improvement, it's crazy.
Under $1000: My 3D printer. I just super love 3D printers.
Before, I used to live with random little annoyances so much that I couldn't even see them as annoyances. After you get something that can solve all of them, your mind just unlocks.
Toilet seat won't stay up? Print a hook. Taking my glasses out of the glove compartment takes too long? Make a custom glasses holder. The cat eats too much? Print a cat feeder. My USB hub slides around too much? Print a bracket to hold it down. Too many devices on my desk? Print under-desk mounts for them.
The list just goes on and on and on, I've printed probably thousands of useful things, especially for my hobbies.
And the BambuLab's A1 3D printer (and mini-AMS) was by far my favorite under $1000 purchase. I've already printed some fidget "tools", toys for the grandchildren, toys for the children, and even a couple of useful tools for me. As a bonus I get some more experience in CAD and other 3D design tools. It's turning into quite a hobby for me.
I do recommend a small length of foam tape for the left side of the door, though, the hinge is not lined and some fumes come out. Putting some foam there greatly improves that.
There's no risk of the spout sitting in the toilet water and siphoning it back into your supply. I'm neither a lawyer or a plumber but these seem like they might be okay.
In many places in Europe tap water is safe to drink. However, hot tap water is not.
The regulations mentioned by GP might protect safety of the cold tap water from intake of hot tap water. Which is easy to do unintentionally when mixing hot and cold water.
The separate taps thing is more because it costs to replace a sink. So even if you put a new boiler in an old houses lots of people aren't going to replace the fittings in the kitchens and bathrooms at the same time.
A side-hack for that matter is to switch from plain-TP to wet-wipes. Some time ago I visited a friend who had younglings, and treated myself to a pamper-wet-wipe and it was amazing.
Edit: Not in the US and the plumbing looks a bit like this, but without the nuts so you can't easily disconnect a part of it: https://static.byggahus.se/attachments/images/large/341/3416...
In the US, the water pipe almost always connects to the toilet through a small shutoff valve. After the valve, it connects to the toilet through a "supply." The supply is basically a short garden hose, with screw-on connections at both ends.
Shut off the water at the wall. Flush to empty the toilet tank. Unscrew the hose at the toilet, and screw that end into what amounts to a y, or splitter that comes with the bidet. From the splitter, screw one side back into the toilet connection; the other goes to the bidet itself. Turn back on the water at the wall.
(This is for a simple cold-water bidet. If you need heated water or electricity, it can be more complex.)
I've always thought that both hot water and electricity would be a minimal barrier to entry for a bidet. And that neither of these exist in a typical toilet closet. Am I fundamentally wrong about this??
Water in pipes inside a house's "thermal envelope" is presumably around 72 deg. F. I wash my hands with "cold water" without wincing. Tap water strikes me as tepid if I drink it without ice.
If your pipes run through an outside wall in Canada, it might be a different story.
If you do need warmer water, and the bidet heats it, you probably just need an electrician to fish a wire and add a receptacle. That's not outrageously complex, usually, but I tend toward calling a professional for anything behind the walls.
The pipes in my house are in the crawlspace underneath the house, which is definitely nothing like 72F this time of year. Any hot water more than 10 feet or so away from the water heater runs pretty cold for several gallons.
It's not quite as efficient, but I put in a recirculation pump and a timer to keep the water warm throughout the pipe during the day. The clothes washer was never getting warm water, and we wasted a lot at the shower waiting for warm water to reach it.
You do however need electricity. I had to run an extension cord for mine, which I tucked away in low profile conduit to keep things tidy looking.
It takes 15-20 minutes and it basically consists of unscrewing a few things and screwing them back together again.
I liked it so much that when I had a new bathroom installed a year later I put in a Toto Washlet.
However, instead of using rigid metal or plastic tubing you commonly find a flexible hose assembly[1]. Only fancy installs use custom formed polished rigid tube for the look. We also tend to leave most of the plumbing in the walls and only the shut off valve protrudes from the wall. Maybe there are flexible hoses available in your region.
When I installed my bidet all I needed was a 3/8 compression tee[2] which they make specifically to tap shutoff valves. The bidet came with a 3/8 connection hose so that went to the tee and I was up and running. The big issue was electric - no outlets in the bathroom. So having seen how Japan loves extension cords I too used one, ran a 12 AWG cord out to the hall to a GFI adapter plugged into a socket. Jank but highly unlikely to cause a fire.
[1] https://www.homedepot.com/b/Plumbing-Plumbing-Parts-Supply-L...
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Breezliy-Lead-Free-Compression-Outlet...
Drying is a personal preference and isn't as important anymore as you're clean down there now. Toilet paper is one option but you don't have to do it (I don't dry for reference) as it'll dry out by itself in a few minutes once you put your underwear on to absorb the water (which is fine because you're completely clean down there so it really is just clean water left).
Normally you still use some small amount of toilet paper to dry away most of the water.
For anyone who wants to get started, I recommend (no affiliation): - the henson razor for those who want something on automatic. It's less efficient (worse at cutting long hair) but it's basically impossible to cut yourself with it due to the small blade gap - the rockwell 6s for tinkerers. It has 6 different settings for blade gap so you can choose your favorite, switch it up if you skipped shaving for a day and have longer hair, etc
I’ve bought the cheap kind, got tired of it and tossed it, then years later went with a more expensive Toto (around $400) and it’s like a completely different experience.
The Toto keeps itself and the toilet cleaner for longer, it has options for gentle spray and oscillating movement, it’s entirely controlled by electronic remote rather than a crude manual knob, the water and seat are heated, it detects when you are sitting down and operates accordingly, and it even has a warm air dryer.
I then visited a friend who had an older Tushy and it was thin enough that he had no problems.
It's like they switched to a cheaper version without testing it, and then marketed the hell out of it.
I ended up replacing all my Tushies with Amazon's toilet seat with a built in bidet. It's decent.
https://www.amazon.com/CuloClean-Portable-Compatible-Discree...
I have the high-end Totos installed at home, and occasionally still revert to this. It’s the best.
Have one in my travel bag, car, backup in luggage, briefcase. All you need is a cheap water bottle.
Test it at home so you know how to use it. Keep it in a tiny ziploc with extra tp (for drying in a public WC)
1) A bidet! Got one in the pandemic when toilet paper was scarce and I wanted to be more efficient, but now I'll never go back. The Tushy ones are good.
2) A safety razor & accessories. I get a cheaper, closer, less irritating shave, and I get to customize every part of it. This can certainly be a rabbithole you spend a lot of money on, but you can get a solid customized starter kit for under $100 that will be totally solid, and from then on you're saving money over cartridges and gel unless you really want to splurge.
I'll second the electric toothbrush suggestion too, its great having my teeth fel clean and smooth.